Customer service tops menu at Leominster business breakfast event

LEOMINSTER -- "Love means never having to saying you're sorry," as the line from "Love Story" goes, but in the business world, knowing how to apologize to customers when you make a mistake is one of the characteristics that make companies beloved.

Believing that people do the right thing and being clear as possible are two other traits, according to author and motivational speaker Jeanne Bliss, who has worked as the chief customer officer for Microsoft, Land's End and Coldwell Banker.

Bliss draws from her extensive customer-service experience to stress the importance of making businesses more personal.

"Every day, we make hundreds of decisions that mark our place in the universe," Bliss said.

Those decisions, she said, are shared by customers through word of mouth -- often through online reviews and social media -- and are an enormous influence on whether a company becomes revered or scorned. So it's important to make every customer's experience a good one.

She listed the grocery-store company Trader Joe's as an ideal example of a "beloved company" others should aspire to be like.

"Everything they do compels you to come back again" -- even the Hawaiian shirts the employees wear, Bliss said.

She also listed Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., as an example of what trying a more personal approach can do.

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She said that allowing patients and their families to see their own medical charts makes for better communication with doctors. The hospital also added valet parking, music pumped through speakers in the parking lot and a pianist playing in the lobby. The changes, Bliss said, contributed to a 40 percent drop in malpractice suits at the hospital.

Reaction to Bliss' presentation was positive.

"I thought it was great and provided a lot of ways to help with the customer experience, whether that means customers in a store or patients in a hospital," said Elaine Fluet, president and CEO of GVNA HealthCare.

Andrew Boucher, chairman of the GVNA's board of directors, said the annual gathering is "an opportunity for us to bring the community together and offer something they can hopefully go home with while raising a few dollars and recognizing someone who really deserves it."

The fundraising event annually brings in thousands of dollars for GVNA's services, which include hospice care, adult day health services and a food pantry.

This year's honoree was Dr. John Harrington, who serves as the organization's hospice program director.

"We are blessed to have the leadership of Dr. Harrington," Fluet said. "He always goes above and beyond, not only in our hospice program, but also in his practice."

Fluet credited Harrington's sense of humor as having been instrumental in his effectiveness as a doctor.

In accepting the honor, Harrington said, "Through it all, we know humor is necessary, because laughter is the fabric of humanity."

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